Well after managing to stay free of covid for so long it finally arrived in the house (unsurprising given the free for all which seems to be government policy now) and the consequent extended period of self isolation was not conducive to great discoveries in nature but I did see my first Ruby-tailed Wasp in the garden plus this rather handsome leafcutter bee, Megachile centuncularis…
My release coincided with John setting a moth trap in the
village. A fantastic catch with 531 moths of 90 species which must be the
highest single-trap catch we have ever had in Ainderby. This included three new
species for the parish: Gold-ribbon Argent, Double-striped Tabby and this
Chequered Pearl…
This is a really scarce moth in VC65 (North-west Yorkshire)
and was a new species even for John.
Always nice too to get your first Garden Tiger of the year…
And Ruby Tiger…
Later that day we went down the river at Morton bridge to try out two pheromone lures. This targeted two species associated with willows and there are a couple of good patches of them here. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen but within five minutes of putting the lure up a cracking Lunar Hornet moth flew in! Looking, and sounding, just like a very large wasp it was surprisingly disconcerting even when you knew it was a moth. Unfortunately it was extremely difficult to photograph so my only image is through a dirty pot lid which hardly does it justice…
The second target was Red-tipped Clearwing and two of these striking little moths also responded immediately to the lure...
A magic half hour.
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